


Under Pressure

by LazyButSmexy



Series: All Haikyu!! characters deserve love tbh [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Anxiety, Captain Tsukishima Kei, Comfort, Fluff, M/M, Study Date, Third Years, ThirdYears!AU, Tsukishima Kei is not an insensitive prick 2k19, Vice-Captain Kageyama Tobio
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-15
Updated: 2019-01-15
Packaged: 2019-10-10 10:42:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,648
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17424347
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LazyButSmexy/pseuds/LazyButSmexy
Summary: It was a little sensation in the back of his head, something akin to hearing a pin drop, but with the intensity of that pin dropping in a dark and silent room in the middle of the night. Something that could have been insignificant in any other occasion suddenly became highlighted and was waving a flag in neon colors in Kei’s head. Something was off.Kageyama still struggles with academics, but even more at handling his own emotions. Tsukishima Kei gladly doesn't struggle so badly at either of those.





	Under Pressure

**Author's Note:**

> Once the announcement for the 4th season of Haikyu!! was out, I re-watched all episodes and re-read the manga (lol)  
> Wouldn't it be nice if Tsukki and Kags' friendship grew, even more, kind of like Kuroo and Yaku's? I'm so down for this to happen in the future.
> 
> You can send in requests through my tumblr sideblog too! Check it out https://lazysmexiness.tumblr.com/

Tsukishima Kei was responsible enough to study for finals unprompted. He knew well enough that, as a third year, not only the contents of their lessons grew in difficulty, but also the evident pressure that if he didn’t do well in academics his club activities may be cut short as well. After that match with Shiratorizawa back in his first year, and later the match against Nekoma, his fondness for volleyball – he blatantly refused to call it _love_ , yet – has only increased over the years, to the point of not wanting to waste any opportunities for playing matches against powerful teams, no matter the result. Of course, winning was always the best outcome, but the satisfaction of giving his all in both strategy and stamina, and being looked up to by both younger teammates and rivals alike – and praised by Kuroo-san, sometimes, although he would never let the former Nekoma captain know that – made his chest swell in pride. As Karasuno’s Captain and the core of the blockers, Tsukishima Kei truly, deeply enjoyed playing volleyball.

There was yet another thing, or rather someone, who made his chest swell for very different reasons, and that someone was sitting across him at that moment, with his books displayed on the table and unreadable notes littering a notebook. Study dates with Kageyama Tobio, vice-captain and starting setter of Karasuno, had started because Kei realized that the team couldn’t risk not counting on him for training camps just because he had to re-sit exams.

 Their relationship, however, started long before those study dates. Their friendship had flourished during the first months of their second year, and by the beginning of their third year, they both knew that being together was almost natural.

A brush of hands during a night walk back from a match, shoulders pressed together when riding a vehicle, and even having their own telepathy moments in and out of the court, where they appeared to share thoughts and inside jokes. Kei and Tobio secretly looked forward to those instants of closeness in which everything seemed to be alright. Tobio was painfully observant and appeared to read in fragments of a second whatever emotions and thoughts were running through the blond teen’s mind, but that was also reciprocal. Kei had gotten much better at reading Tobio during the past two years, no matter how hard his façade was, or how tight the seams in his mind were; Tsukishima Kei always managed to read Tobio, and there was a neon sign over both their heads that read ‘I like you so bad, ugh’.

That’s why, one night after practice, Kei armed himself with determination and held Tobio’s hand in his, bringing it to his lips and pressing a soft kiss into it. After a few seconds of silence that looked like an eternity to Kei, Tobio cupped his cheek and stood on his tip-toes to press a soft kiss in the corner of his mouth, effectively causing both to flush from head to toes. No words were said after the kiss, but they held hands during the length of the way they walked together until they had to split to head to their respective homes. At that moment, Tobio had said ‘Let’s d-do this again tomorrow,’ and, still stunned and blushing by the happenstances of that night, Kei could only nod.

In retrospective, Kei thinks that was one of the most disastrous moments in his life. Him, the witty, sarcastic Tsukishima Kei, freaking out over holding hands and receiving a kiss. How pathetic. Now again, Tobio had been blushing just as hard and had even stuttered, so maybe both were uncool that night. It always gave Kei butterflies in his stomach whenever he thought back to that day, knowing that he had as much an effect on Tobio as the latter had on him.

 

It was a little sensation in the back of his head, something akin to hearing a pin drop, but with the intensity of that pin dropping in a dark and silent room in the middle of the night. Something that could have been insignificant in any other occasion suddenly became highlighted and was waving a flag in neon colors in Kei’s head. Something was off.

He tore his eyes from his own notes and looked at Tobio’s hands, still gripping the book with such intensity that he could feel the paper crumbling under his grip. A faint, almost unnoticeable tremor cursed his hands, and Kei wondered just how much pressure the highest-ranking setter in the prefecture needs to start trembling like a leaf. He looked further up, and his eyes widened slightly, realizing the reason behind that sensation in the back of his head.

Tobio’s face was scrunched up and his eyes were red and flooding with tears he didn’t dare shed. There was a flush on his cheeks that was unmistakably from holding back tears, and Kei’s heart clenched slightly at the sight. He scolded himself as he removed his headphones – he usually studied better with music, so whenever Tobio needed help, he would have to touch his hand to get his attention, something Kei secretly looked forward to. But, what if Tobio had tried to call him and he hadn’t heard, what if that gave off the impression that Kei didn’t care. He knew he was over thinking all of this, but he couldn’t help it. Everything about Kageyama Tobio was important to him, his thoughts, his words, his smiles, his tears, his fears.

Kei slowly reached out to Tobio, brushing the back of his fingers with his own, effectively bolting him out of his thoughts. “Are you okay?” he inquired, if only a tad bit hesitant and trying not to sound too sympathetic, knowing the other would most likely take it as pity even though it was far from that, “need help?”

Tobio caught Kei’s concerned gaze and wiped out the tears streaming down his face with his sleeve a little too harshly and making his eyes even redder. His face scrunched up a little more, looking back down to his books. Kei waited, knowing that sometimes the setter had great difficulty to express whatever was in his thoughts into words. After a few moments, Tobio finally breathed out, “…I should be able to do this…” It was barely above a mutter and Kei could feel the uncertainty in his tone.

Kei straightened over the table to glance at the source of the other’s predicament and recognized a literature exercise in which one had to read a story fragment and answer some questions beneath. Tobio had only answered two of eight questions. The problem was that one couldn’t get the answers straight from the text, but one had to think logically to get to the solutions. This could possibly be difficult for Tobio, as besides volleyball matters, he couldn’t think logically about any sequence of events.

Kei furrowed his brow a tiny bit, looking at Tobio’s face again. “Why do you think that way?”, he tilted his head slightly and smirked, trying to relieve the tension a tad bit, “it’s obvious you need help.” His smirk fell when the other scrunched up his face a little more and let go of the book, covering his face with his hands and groaning.

“…”

“… I can't hear you~”

“…I’m a senpai now, a third year,” he sighed, only releasing the pressure of his hands from his mouth to speak more clearly, but still blatantly covering his eyes, “and the vice-captain of the team…”

He didn’t say anything more as his voice started cracking up and he choked up a sob, failing miserably to keep it hidden. Kei didn’t need anything else, though, he could imagine the next part of that statement.

_“People look up to me now.”_

Kei himself has had intrusive thoughts like that one several times since the beginning of his third year of high school. Everyone in the team looks up to the captain and vice-captain, and teachers expect them to not only represent the school in sports but also keep up with their academics. The pressure was overwhelming sometimes, and he could only imagine how hard it was for Tobio, who even though was a star setter, well renowned in Japan already, still struggled with many subjects at school. Not only that, but his own experience back in middle school having Oikawa Tooru as his senpai was not exactly pristine. Being an upperclassman was emotionally difficult for Tobio.

He carefully stood up and moved to sit next to Tobio, his hand slowly finding its way through his dark tresses. PDA was a large, uncharted territory for them both, but they were most willing to be touchy-freely once they were in private. “You don’t need to live up to those ridiculous expectations,” he started slowly, thinking his words over and over as he tried to pry Tobio’s hands from his face, “no one expects you to be an academic genius, they’re fine with you just being the volleyball idiot we all learned to love and cherish.”

Finally, Tobio lowered his hands enough for Kei to lean in and press his lips to a tear-stained cheek. He held him close, stroking his hair with a hand and holding his wrist with the other. He leaned against Kei’s warm body and nuzzled his face into his collarbone and his shoulders relaxed little by little. “We count on you during our matches, so please count on us to help you with school, alright?”

“…Yeah,” Tobio sighed and took Kei’s hand as he looked up at him and stared at him in a silent request. Kei smirked and leaned down to kiss him, knowing that the previous interaction had had way too much communication about feelings for one day, it was about time he spoiled his King a little bit.

They could keep studying after a little break.

 

**Author's Note:**

> This was written in one go and barely checked, so if there are any mistakes, sorry lol


End file.
